This video was the introductory segment on the session titled “Rituals and Practices: Sudreh Pushi/ Navjote and Kushti”. This was presented at the XVI North American Zarathusti Congress 2012, hosted by ZAGNY in New York in August 2012.

The most important ceremony for an individual Zarathushti is the Navjote/Sudreh Pushi ceremony and with it the ritual of the Kushti. The session will explain the Navjote ceremony and its significance in the life of a Zarathushti and also look at the prayers of the Kushti Ritual and their significance. The Sudreh Pushi ceremony and its significance from a young Iranian Zarathushti’s view point will be discussed. The Kushti ritual will be performed in English translation to highlight the significance of the ritual.

Karl Khambatta will be presenting an English translation of the Kushti prayers while performing the Kushti ritual in order to illustrate the significance of this daily ritual in our lives. Ervad Dr. Jehan Bagli’s presentation will focus on the basic significance of Navjote prayers as reflected in the teachings of Zarathushtra. It will elaborate the theory and practice of the belief system as it relates the Divine to the corporeal, and trace the rationale for the need of a purificatory ritual. This will set the stage for the discussion of the simplest of the purificatory rituals of padyab – kushti that forms an integral part of the Navjote ceremony. The presentation will elaborate how a devotee refreshes and renovates one’s ritual purity and its reflection in the day to day life, through the significance embodied in these liturgies.

Professor Irani will relate the conversation with his father two nights before his own Navjote, and on what this event meant. The conversation lead to reflections from time to time on what the Prophet has called upon us to do. These reflections brought Professor Irani moments of realization of the nature of Asha functioning in Nature and in society. It is that to which we make an ultimate commitment in our faith.

Nahid Dashtaki will be speaking on her experiences right before and during her Sudreh Pushi Ceremony. Specifically relating her anticipation, nervousness and excitement in working through a process that she did not quite understand, until after the ceremony was over. She still remembers the public display of consciousness and the private feeling of empowerment. The ceremony itself was not the most powerful part of her day, it was the sense of acceptance by the community.